Did you get a chance to watch the 10th edition cinematic trailer? You will need to watch it twice. The first time you watch it just take it in for all the awesome mayhem that is going on with the boys in blue (Ultramarines) giving the business to a swarm on Tyranids. In my opinion this was some fine work by the folks at GW to wet everyone’s whistle. Now when you watch it a second time, look a little closer at what the Space Marines are kitted out with. I think that will we be seeing some new Primaris units following the release of 10th edition.
Gravis Apothecary. In this scene we see an apothecary working on a wounded Marine. If you look at his armor, it very closely resembles the Gravis armor we see on the Heavy Intercessors/ Aggressors. What we can assume with this is that he will be a bit slower but be bumped up to toughness 5, making him a bit more survivable if he happens to get targeted. Will this justify the additional points cost I’m not too sure yet. The current standard apothecary is 70 points so I would be willing to bet this option would be in the 85–90-point range.
Combi Weapons. As you watch the squad of Marines patrol through the hazy jungle, if you look closely at the point man you can see that he is carrying a combi flamer. This isn’t exactly new since with the Primaris Black Templar they have some of these as an option for characters. But being able to kit out a ground squad with these can make a pretty big impact. We have also seen combi melta, and combi plasma starting to show up with some on the other new character models so I think it will be fair to assume that these will be options as well. Now a Veteran Intercessor currently cost 20 points a model and I think a fair price for a bolt rifle combi option would be about 10-15 points. So, 150-175 points could be justifiable.
Flamers. When the bugs start to make the charge at the Marines you see them hold the line and what looks like a small squad with flamers unleashing hate on the Xenos scum. Salamander players would love this, being able to load up a squad of five guys with flamers into an Impulsor and fly them up the field. I’d say that is pretty toasty. I see this as an easy option for GW since again the Black Templars already have this. I’d be willing to pay 100-115 points for a squad of these guys with OPSEC.
Anti-Tank Redemptor Dreadnought. Now here is one I am particularly excited about because I am a sucker for dreadnaughts. At first glance in the video, I thought it was a classic first-born dread from years past but when I looked closer there it was. A Redemptor chassis with what appears to be a twin lastalon, maybe a krakstorm missile launcher of some sort, and a couple of storm bolters. This would be a good addition in my opinion to shore up Anti-tank options for the Primaris line. If they make this 185-200 points it would be a hit.
Captain and Librarian in Terminator Armor. When it looks like the Marines are about to be overrun by the Tyranid swarm, here comes a deep strike of terminator reinforcements. Now we already saw that there would be updated terminator models but what stood out here was the Terminator Captain and Librarian. The Captain looked pretty classic with his power sword and storm bolter but the Librarian look a little different then what we saw in the past. The ruins engraved in the armor and the fact that he was wielding this giant two-handed force axe leads me to think that just maybe they intend to give him a little bit more in the close combat department because, let’s be honest, Librarians have been known to be pretty squishy.
So, what does this all mean for the future of Space Marines? I’m throwing out my prediction that we will see the end of the First-Born Marines by the end of the 10th Edition life span. From what I can tell, pretty much everything has been given a Primaris replacement except for Jump Pack Vanguard Veterans, which I think is already in the works. With the “Leak” of Commander Daunte we see our first glimpse of what a what could be the groundwork for a Primaris Vanguard Vet. It would be a little sad to see the Marines of old get the Legends Stamp but with the awesome work GW has been doing with the Primaris line I think we will come to accept it over time. I, for one, am excited for the future of Warhammer 40k. What are your thoughts?
References:
https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/03/23/a-mindblowing-new-edition-of-warhammer-40000-is-coming/